by Carla Kovach
She glanced at the messages on her phone from Rex. What had she been playing at? She’d heard Jacob mentioning Tinder. He’d had a few dates and shared with her how much fun he’d had and she’d been curious.
It had been months since she’d had any meaningful company. Her daughter Hannah had moved house and was now living in Gloucestershire. Given that they were emotionally distant, she wondered if she’d moved on purpose to get away from her. She missed Gracie, her granddaughter, dearly. The log burner was no substitute for a family but it helped. The crackling sound eased the emptiness of deafening silence. The warm flickering flames and shadows licking the walls made her feel less alone.
Staring at the photos of Jade on her laptop screen, she shuddered as she bit into another crisp. As she glanced up, she almost choked as a face peered through the lounge window. Her pounding heart sent blood whooshing around her body. The man smiled and waved. She closed her laptop screen and hurried to the door.
‘What are you doing here? I’m working.’
Rex held the bottle of wine up. ‘I just wanted to thank you for a lovely night.’
‘I said I was busy and I am busy.’ She stood in the doorway, hoping he’d apologise and leave. How dare he turn up unannounced? ‘Look, Rex. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong idea, I’m not looking to get involved with anyone at the moment so let’s just leave this here. Go home, enjoy your wine and check out Tinder. There are lots of other women who I’m sure would love to meet up with you, go out, share this wine.’
‘I really like you, Gina. You’ve barely given me a chance.’ He paused and smiled. ‘Anyway, I came over because I’ve lost my belt. I think I left it in your room. I’m sorry to disturb you.’
‘Okay, wait there.’ Leaving the door ajar, she ran up the stairs in her little cottage and searched through her clothes and under the bed, eventually finding the belt against the wall. As she gripped it, she flinched. Terry had once thrashed her with his belt. Laughing the house down as Hannah screamed in her crib. Not wanting sex was never an option and he showed her that. With trembling hands, she left the bedroom. Her ex-husband, Terry, was gone and he could never hurt her again. She’d made sure of it.
‘Here you go.’ Rex took the belt from her then he headed towards his car.
‘Thanks. I’ll message you,’ he called as he quickly entered his car and closed the door before she could reply.
‘Please don’t,’ she whispered under her breath.
Eleven
Aimee stared at the card that the police had left and turned it over. With the lights off, she gazed out into the darkness of the back garden. The rickety shed creaked every time the breeze picked up. Rhys had promised to fix it, he’d also promised to fix the kitchen cupboard, the lock on the bathroom door and the back gate. He always promised but never delivered. Nicole had constantly told her she was too good for him and that she’d changed since they’d been together. Slamming her hand on the worktop, she could see how his controlling nature had been so subtle at the beginning. He’d just seemed over-loving, overprotective. He made her feel safe and cared for. She didn’t feel safe any more. She now felt abandoned and suffocated at the same time.
She tried to call Rhys but once again he didn’t answer his phone. She shivered as she thought about Jade, the quietest woman at the party. Sitting alone, she’d kept herself to herself, not mingling at all. Aimee would never forget the look on the woman’s face when her name was matched with Rhys’s. And, since then, she hadn’t heard a thing from Rhys and Jade had been murdered. It was all over the papers and the police were trying their best to contact her and Rhys. She screwed up the card and threw it in the bin. She needed it all to go away.
She almost crashed into the chair as the neighbour’s dog began to bark like it was being attacked. ‘Get in, Barney,’ called the neighbour. With shaky hands, she pushed the kitchen window open a little further. Barney wasn’t a noisy dog most of the time. Her heart pounded. Maybe there was someone out there, lurking around the back of the fence. She swallowed as she thought of Jade and the fact that her killer was still out there. Her heart pounded as she leaned in closer to the window, staring out. A bang came from nowhere, followed by a rustling noise.
She slid the kitchen draw open and gripped a small vegetable knife, before crouching down behind the kitchen sink. Someone was coming, she knew it. She screeched as her phone lit up. ‘Rhys!’ she shouted, keeping one eye on the back door.
‘It’s me. How are things going back home?’ Her lodger, Nicole, sounded so fresh and happy in Tenerife.
Her eyes watered up as she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Her panicked breaths turned into laughter.
‘Aimee, hun, are you okay?’
‘Yes, I’m being stupid. I just got creeped out by Barney next door.’ Maybe that’s all it was. The rustling of leaves could be nothing more than someone passing the back of her fence. It led to a bus stop and to the rest of the estate. Jade’s murder was sending her reactions into overdrive.
‘Easy done. Anyway, I’ll be home soon to show you my embarrassing pics.’ She paused. ‘Aimee, I can always tell when there’s something wrong. What’s up?’
‘Now’s not a good time, I’ll have to call you back. I’ll text you later. Sending love and hugs.’ She ended the call before Nicole had the chance to say another word. She loved Nicole dearly, they were best friends, but now wasn’t the time to chat, especially when she had no idea what to say.
Loosening her grip on the knife, she wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead as she tried to call Rhys once again, this time his phone was actually ringing.
‘What?’ he snapped.
‘Where are you? We need to talk.’ The kitchen door flew open, Aimee’s heart threatened to explode in her tiny chest. As her vision focused on the face standing in front of her, she stared back, wondering if he was capable of killing Jade. ‘Don’t come near me,’ she whimpered as she held the knife in front of her chest, hands shaking and tears streaming down her face. ‘What did you do to her?’
‘Aimee, I didn’t do anything. She left me in the summerhouse, I finished getting dressed and then I left. She was fine when I saw her last, I swear.’
He took a step towards her and she poked the knife into the air. ‘You haven’t been home since. The police have left messages and keep trying to call. I didn’t know where you were and it’s all over the news. If you didn’t kill her, why didn’t you come home after? I waited and waited in the dark, hiding when the police knocked. They came for you and you weren’t here. I waited for you to call. That’s when I saw what had happened. Someone on Jade’s street posted an RIP on Twitter before the sun even came up. All this happened and not a word from you—’
‘I didn’t do it, but hey, you’ve already sentenced me in your head!’ He clenched his jaw and took another step forward.
‘Were you rough with her? I know you Rhys.’
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘You’ve already convicted me in your stupid little head, and I expected more from you.’
‘You forget how well I know you. Stay away from me. I’ll use it.’ Face wet with tears, she began to sob. She knew he didn’t believe her.
He snatched the knife from her hand and threw it on the floor behind him. ‘Look at you, holding a knife up at me then making out I’m the dangerous one. You would have, wouldn’t you? Maybe you killed her.’
With only the moon and the glow of a street lamp filling the room, she shook her head as she sobbed. ‘As if. Why didn’t you come home?’ She slammed through the kitchen door and ran up to the bedroom, slamming the door and burying her head in her pillow.
Rhys burst in and began rummaging through his drawers. Snatching a handful of clothing, he made a huffing noise as he stuffed the pile into a bag. ‘No one’s pinning this on me, least of all you! I’ll be back for the rest of my stuff soon.’ He crept up and lay beside her. ‘I’ll prove to you that I had nothing to do with Jade’s murder.’ She didn’t believe him. He couldn�
�t give her one good reason why he didn’t come home and he’d even had the nerve to accuse her.
‘I wish we’d never gone to that party,’ she whispered as her body stiffened at his touch; warm breath tickling her neck as he kissed her. She closed her eyes hoping he’d leave.
As soon as the door slammed, she burst into uncontrollable sobs, sobbing for the life of a woman she barely knew and for the man she loved but no longer trusted.
Twelve
Tuesday, 7 May 2019
Gina flicked between her screens and the report on Jade that sat on her desk. As she delved deeper into Jade’s life, more things to consider ended up in her to do pile. Jacob knocked and gently pushed her office door open. ‘You’re here early?’
‘I can’t stay away from the place, guv. I love it so much.’ He placed a coffee on her desk. ‘Here, O’Connor sent you this. Made by his wife’s fair hand. Apparently it’s healthy, it’s got nuts in it.’ He dropped a serviette containing a cereal bar next to the coffee.
Gina took a bite. Given that it tasted of butter, just like all of Mrs O’s bakes, she doubted it was healthy. ‘Ooh, thank you.’
‘Any updates on the Ashmores?’ He took the seat opposite and slurped his drink.
‘There were a few reports of noise on file, coming from their house. It seems that they argued a fair bit.’
‘Did she work?’
‘A little at home. She was a graphic designer but had given up her job to work from home since they had their child, four years ago. She must have felt so isolated.’ Gina nibbled another piece of the cereal bar. When her daughter Hannah was a baby, she’d felt all alone, trapped in her house with Terry holding the invisible key. She coughed as she swallowed a few crumbs down the wrong way.
‘Have a swig of your coffee, guv. I’m finding them a bit crumby too.’ She nodded and slid the report across the desk where he began reading it.
On Jacob’s advice, she gulped her coffee and closed her eyes. She couldn’t let Jacob see her panic. She took a breath in through her nose, held her breath and exhaled. If the neighbour’s reports were right, she knew just how Jade would have felt. At least Jade didn’t kill her husband, like me. Willing thoughts of her abusive ex-husband, Terry, to go away, she stood and walked over to the window, staring out at the old tree in the car park, its roots pushing the concrete upwards, spilling over and creating the most charming looking trip hazards. She concentrated hard on the morning sun, the birds flying back and forth, landing on branches. She tuned in to Jacob tapping on her desk.
Terry was gone and her life had been good since. Right, back to it, Harte.
She knew the pathologist’s report wouldn’t be completed for a while but she made a mental note to ask Bernard if there were any signs of physical abuse on Jade Ashmore’s body.
Her phone beeped and she instantly felt her heart rate speed again as she saw a text from her Tinder date. That man wasn’t taking hints. She’d have to be even blunter, maybe even ruder.
‘Can I take this report with me, guv? I’ll go through it too.’
‘Of course. Task O’Connor and Wyre to chase up Rhys Keegan and Aimee Prowse again. We’ve had all units on alert for his car but nothing has come back so far. I want to know what went on in that summerhouse. I know the Ashmores’ creepy neighbour, Colin Wray, saw him there but he also saw Jade leaving a few minutes before Rhys did. It’s strange that we haven’t managed to find him since. Even stranger that Noah was with his partner, Aimee, at the same time.’
Jacob nodded. ‘Totally agree. I’ll pass all that on. Shall I tell O’Connor that the cereal bar was a bit crumby?’ He gave her a smirk.
She smiled back. ‘Don’t you dare.’
As he left, she read the text.
I know I messed up, with the wine and leaving my belt, but I really like you, Gina. When you showed an interest in me on Tinder, I was thrilled, so thrilled. I don’t exactly know where I went wrong or what I might have done to upset you, but can we start again?
She placed her head in her hands. She thought he would be like the other men she’d met. They went out, she went back to his and that’s where it ended. Gina didn’t do relationships. She’d tried with Briggs, her boss, but that had left her lost. They could never be together working at the same station and neither would ever leave. She rubbed her throbbing temples. Briggs was the one. He’d never know it, but he was. Another text came.
I’ll prove myself. One more chance? I can be a great guy, you know. I’m good at cooking, like long walks, log fires, cats…
She laughed. He certainly had done his research. Briggs had moved on, he had gone on dates, she had to move on too. Her smile turned into a frown. Rex seemed to want so much more than she thought she’d ever even contemplate giving. She’d given her heart away only twice in her life, one had been a controlling psychopath and the other had been a professional no-go. She swallowed as she put herself in Rex’s shoes. He liked her, went out with her and slept with her, all the time hoping that it would lead somewhere. Really, she’d used him just to ease her loneliness and now he was wondering where he went wrong. She typed out a message.
I need time to think. X
Her phone went, it was Jacob. ‘Looks like one of our witnesses has finally got in touch.’ She smiled as he finished talking.
Thirteen
‘Come in,’ Gina called. Wyre entered. Her crisp black suit matched her newest crisp-cut black hair, a cut that almost resembled pictures she’d seen of Egyptian goddesses. Gina brushed down her crumpled shirt and leaned back. ‘I see a smile. You’ve got something, haven’t you?’
‘We have just had a call from a lady called Diane Garraway. Seven years ago, a friend of hers went missing, a young woman called Samantha Felton. I just emailed you the missing persons file.’ Gina glanced at her inbox and true to her word, the email had already arrived. She clicked on it, then into the link and a photo appeared on her screen. Missing since the fifth of May 2012. No sightings of her since.
‘Unless she has new information, I don’t see where we can go with this one at the moment. We really have to prioritise the Jade Ashmore murder case.’
‘You haven’t heard the best of it yet, guv.’ Gina could see a glint in Wyre’s eye.
‘Spill the beans, Paula.’ Gina linked her fingers and flexed them out in front of her.
Wyre flipped open a page in her notebook. ‘It would have been Samantha’s thirty-third birthday yesterday. Diane received a card to Samantha, the letters contained in it are cut out from bits of magazine. Now, here’s the intriguing bit, if that wasn’t enough already. A small, whole fingernail was also included inside the card, the shade of pink is what Diane believes matches the one that was Samantha’s favourite. She thinks it’s a fake nail but she isn’t sure as it’s been thickly varnished.’
‘Jade Ashmore was missing a fingernail, the smallest one on her right hand. For the nail to turn up on the same day of Jade Ashmore’s murder is more than a coincidence.’
Wyre nodded. ‘That’s what I thought. Someone’s playing a game with us, I think.’
A flash of thoughts filled Gina’s head. The image of a fingernail being tugged away from skin made her wince. ‘I need to speak to her. Fancy an outing this morning?’
Nodding, Wyre flipped her pad closed. ‘Definitely.’
‘We can collect the card and send it to Bernard.’
‘That sounds like a plan. I mentioned to Diane that we would need the card. She told me she’s touched it several times and it’s even been in the bin at one point. She could have potentially ruined any evidence contained on it.’
Gina exhaled and slumped back. ‘Definitely not good from a forensics point of view. Maybe Bernard can get something from the nail, that’s if it’s not fake.’
The phone on her desk rang. ‘Bernard.’ As he spoke, Gina nodded as Wyre tried to listen to what he was saying. ‘All we have is the neighbour’s word for it then. Thank you.’ She slammed the handset down and stared at the phone.
‘What was that, guv?’
Gina shook her head and tapped her fingers on the desk as she thought. She selected the other tab on her computer. The list of suspects was huge. There was everyone at the party and the host, Dawn, still hadn’t provided all their details. Jade’s neighbours, including Colin Wray and Tiffany the babysitter, both may have had opportunity. She also had to still consider that the attacker could have chosen Jade at random on that night, that he was merely an opportunist. ‘Gather everyone up for an immediate briefing. We need to discuss Noah Ashmore further and I want to know why we still haven’t found Rhys Keegan!’ She slammed her fist on the desk, seething that this man was managing to dodge them.
‘At least we have his girlfriend Aimee.’ Gina glanced at the note on her electronic diary. They were due to go to Aimee’s house after lunch. Speaking to her was all good and well but she wanted Rhys Keegan. It was time to step up the search.
Fourteen
Wyre closely followed Gina along the tiny uneven path that led to Diane’s house, the last small house in the row. Peeling paint flaked from the walls and the overgrown front garden looked like it probably hadn’t been tended to in years. A wheelie bin half-covered the front door and Gina wondered if the grimy windows and brown net curtain had ever been washed. The area seemed quiet even though it was only a few streets back from Cleevesford High Street; she would have thought it might be busier, but there was no further access by road and only a small path that led to the primary school.
